Brace For Impact: Leadership in Insurance

Fountains and Drains

You're either a fountain or a drain. Funny thing is, you're not born that way. It's a choice you make each day when you wake up. How do you tell which a person is? Take an inventory of how that ...

Finding Common Ground: Beware Of Always Or Never

Let's start with the normal distribution curve. Have I lost you already? Most of us know the normal distribution curve, also known as a bell curve. It sits on an x/y axis. It starts low, gradually ...

'My Airplane': Don't Let Fear Keep You From Taking Action

Certainty is scarce right now. When we lack certainty, we lack calm and peace. Our lives feel out of control. It's daunting to capture calm in the midst of chaos. But when we seize control in times ...

No Events = No Networking?

Arguably, the greatest asset I own after 30 years in the insurance industry is my network. My network was built over decades of engagements. To be clear, all of those engagements were face to face. I ...

'Finding Meaning' Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has not only caused a tremendous amount of death, but it has also altered society's ability to perform and experience the traditional rituals of dying, which are necessary to ...

Executive Viewpoint

To Avoid Being COVID-19 Villains, P/C Insurers Need to "Overcommunicate"

One thing is almost certain in most crises: property/casualty insurance companies will be painted as villains. Consumer activists, plaintiffs lawyers and politicians have already started and will ...

Executive Profile

From IT Leader to C-Suite: A Natural Path for Insurer CEO

A career path that starts in the technology department and ends with the top job as chief executive officer hasn't been common in the property/casualty insurance industry, but it was a natural one ...

Leadership Tips

Don't Let Negative Emotions Take Control

The social distancing measures we've adopted in the face of this global pandemic have caused many people to feel increased stress, isolation and loneliness, which not only takes a toll on our mental ...

Risk Alerts

Hurricanes and COVID-19

The 2020 hurricane season will be an active one according to all the major forecasters. Colorado State University said there is a 69 percent chance of a major U.S. landfalling hurricane. The tally ...

Managing a Pandemic: Are There Lessons From Catastrophe Modeling?

COVID-19 isn't the first and won't be the last pandemic to threaten the well-being of the global population, but it will likely turn out to be the worst in the last 100 years. It would be hard to ...

Swiss Re's Risk Radar

Swiss Re's annual SONAR report, published in early June, highlights 14 emerging risks that will impact different sectors of the insurance industry in different time frames. The accompanying chart ...

The Risk of 'Take-Home' COVID-19 and the 'Next Asbestos'

Estimates of the size of COVID-19's impact on the insurance industry vary widely, but some companies (including Chubb and Willis Re) have suggested that, considering both asset and liability losses, ...

Technology and Analytics

In 2020, InsurTechs Come Down to Earth

InsurTech startups in their first few years have supplied plenty of flash and dazzle, paired with promises to disrupt and transform the insurance industry through radical changes and inventions. In ...

How On-Demand Tech Will Help Insurers Show Their Value Post Crisis

Since I started this series, the world's perception of insurance and its value has changed. There are countless stories bashing the inability of insurance to protect during a pandemic. Hopefully, the ...

Special Report: Leading When the World Restarts

Leading Through a Storm With No Clear End

I have heard a number of business leaders across the country discussing the early days of the COVID-19 response and their experience with continuing operations while protecting the health and safety ...

Pandemic Reinforces Innovation Culture at Root

In many respects, we unintentionally built Root to weather situations like the COVID-19 pandemic. We have always been fueled by our passion for identifying what's not working and rolling up our ...

How AM Best's Workforce Stays Productive, Maintains a Sense of Belonging

Across the United States, work-from-home mandates helped to quell the spread of the COVID-19 virus. AM Best moved quickly to get out in front of the work-from-home curve and help its entire workforce ...

Flexibility and Patience Helping Insurance Leader Through COVID Challenges

Over the years, I have been described as "old school" or "set in his ways." Having been in the insurance business since June 1, 1977, I guess there is a legitimate reason. I am getting old. Never in ...

Creating Certainty: Now and in the Future

Companies don't have a choice about the timing and magnitude of a crisis like COVID-19. What will define a company is the choices leaders make from this point forward. How do we move beyond managing ...

Overcommunication: A Leadership Lesson From the Crisis

If you asked business leaders at the beginning of March if they thought allowing staff to work from home was an efficient way to run a company, I bet the overwhelming majority would have said no. ...

Next Insurance: Getting Small Businesses Back to Work

I strongly believe that insurance is a social good, and as a company Next Insurance strongly values a customer-centric approach to service. The challenges of the pandemic have motivated us as an ...

My First Days of Leadership—During a Global Pandemic

A global pandemic was certainly not in my 90-day plan when I assumed this role in February, but it's shaping how my leadership team and I are leading today and will lead in the future. From the start ...

The Big Picture: How COVID Should Change the Industry

Responding to a Carrier Management call for executive viewpoints, industry leaders told us how the pandemic has changed them. In addition, they shared ideas about how the industry should plan for the ...

Situational, Authentic Leadership Needed for Crisis and Beyond

A leader sets the tone during any crisis. We've all faced challenging times, whether an individual crisis felt by our own company or a broader crisis impacting the industry or nation. The global ...

After COVID: The Road Ahead for Agents

Looking ahead to the days after the COVID-19 crisis, the need for some changes in the independent agency channel becomes clear. The channel needs more—and better—digital capabilities. During the ...

Clarity Critical for Startups in Crisis

Personally, my experience at a startup in 2008 taught me that in times of disaster there is a huge premium on both capital and clarity. The capital you have available may be beyond your control based ...

Leading When the World Restarts: What's Next?

How has the pandemic changed you personally? As a leader? How will it change your company? How should the industry plan to respond to future pandemics? Carrier Management asked carrier, reinsurance ...

Walls Between Life and Work Come Down

One of my team talked about resilience and courage being key words to describe the way our business has dealt with the new realities of a COVID-19 world. These are words I equate with the men and ...

Claims 2020

Nuclear Verdicts: What P/C Carriers Need to Know

To mitigate the explosion of nuclear jury verdicts—which topped billions of dollars last year—insurance companies need to take a stand to meaningfully impact the U.S. tort system. The most ...

Is COVID Physical Damage? Plaintiffs Relying on Bacteria, Ammonia and Cat Urine Rulings

In 1963, congregants noticed a strange odor in the basement of the First Presbyterian Church in Littleton, Colo. Some suspected a gas leak or maybe spilled stationary ink. Others thought the smell ...

Holistic Workers Comp: Moving Beyond the Physical

For too many workers, the effects of injuries do not end when their physical harm is healed and they get back to their jobs. What begins as a work injury too often ends up leading to deep and ...

From the Editor

Reinventing Normal

If you were born just a few years ago, and started to understand the world today, then wearing a mask to go outside wouldn't seem like a very big deal. And the fact that your parents were always ...